Early male touch fastener products were generally woven materials, with hooks formed by cutting filament loops. More recently, arrays of small fastener elements have been formed by molding the fastener elements, or at least the stems of the elements, of resin, forming an interconnected sheet of material. Generally, molded plastic hook tape has displaced traditional woven fabric fasteners for many applications, primarily because of lower production costs.
Molded plastic hook tape is often attached to substrates by employing an adhesive, or by sewing when the substrate is a made from sewable material. Often, adhesive-backed hook tape is utilized to attach the hook tape at desired locations on the substrate. Unfortunately, the process of applying adhesive-backed hook tape can be slow, and adhesion of the adhesive-backed hook tape to the substrate can be poor.